Lord Drayson: Figures showing the strength of the UK Regular Forces on the 1 September 2003 and 2006 are shown in the table below.
	
		
			  1 September 2003 1 September 2006 
			 Royal Navy 33,910 31,480 
			 Royal Marines 7,250 7,400 
			 Army 111,930 106,310 
			 Royal Air Force 53,140 46,820p 
			 Total 206,230 192,010p 
			 Source:  DASA (Tri-service) 
			 Figures are for UK regular forces (including both trained and untrained personnel), and therefore exclude Gurkhas, full-time reserve service personnel, the home service battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment and mobilised reservists. 
			 Due to the rounding methods used, totals may not always equal the sum of the parts. When rounding to the nearest 10, numbers ending in 5 have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias. 
			 p denotes provisional. Due to the introduction of a new personnel administration

Lord Sainsbury of Turville: The final report concerning the evaluation of the personal provisions of the Enterprise Act 2002, including the bankruptcy restriction order regime, is due to be published in the autumn 2007. The first interim evaluation report was published in March 2005 and the second in March 2006.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: Average waiting times for processing applications under Section 4B of the British Nationality Act 1981 currently stands at 11 weeks. It is not possible to obtain this information in respect of applications under the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1997 except by examining individual case records at disproportionate cost.
	The information on waiting times shown on the Home Office IND website does not discriminate between applications made under different sections of the British Nationality Act 1981 and does not currently include applications made under the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1997.

Lord Laird: asked Her Majesty's Government:
	What is the community background of Northern Ireland civil servants who work in the North-South Ministerial Secretariat in Armagh.

Lord Rooker: DETI commenced equality-related consultations in line with its obligations under Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 once the department's equality scheme had been approved by the Equality Commission in April 2001. Between 2001-02 and 2005-06, DETI carried out eight such consultations. They were as follows:
	2001-02Industrial Development Act (Northern Ireland) 2002.2002-03Equality impact assessment on DETI policies in relation to support for existing industry and for the attraction of new inward investment. Equality impact assessment on DETI policies in relation to support for companies to undertake research and development activity.Equality impact assessment on DETI policies to assist companies to increase international competitiveness by promoting management development and encouraging employers to develop the skills and versatility of those in employment. Energy Bill.An assessment under Section 75 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 of Insolvency Service policies 2003-04.Equality impact assessment on DETI policy to encourage and maintain the most favourable regulatory climate for the growth of business, industry and commerce.Equality impact assessment on DETI policy to promote and maintain a fair trading environment in which consumers are protected against malpractice and responsible business activity is encouraged.
	For each of the above, DETI consulted with those groups and individuals who had requested that they be included on the consultation list which was established as part of the department's equality scheme for this purpose. A copy of this list will be placed in the Library.

Baroness Ashton of Upholland: Frontier Economics was selected from the HMRC framework agreement list for pre-approved consultancy services on the basis of their expertise in economic consultancy. They have a proven track record of producing high quality work for a number of government departments.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: At Oakington the average time to initial decision from date of application for the first two quarters of this year was 12 days. Following completion of the Oakington process at this stage claimants may be further detained after they have been served with a decision in accordance with general detention criteria or released on temporary admission.
	The average length in detention in 2005-06—that is, from 1 April 2005 to 31 March 2006—for asylum seekers subject to the fast track process at Harmondsworth who were removed from the UK in that period was 65 days. The equivalent figure for Yarl's Wood was 57.5 days.
	Since the Oakington, Harmondsworth and Yarl's Wood fast-track processes are end-to-end processes from the initial asylum interview through to removal, meaningful comparisons with the figures before the process was introduced cannot be made.

Lord Rooker: The Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB) has reported a reduction in sickness absence rates from 7.25 per cent in June 2006 to 4.24 per cent in September 2006. Reduction in sick absence rates occurred within both the long term and short term sick absence monitoring categories as detailed in the following table.
	
		
			 Month Days lost Per cent staff no. absence Absence (per cent) Short-term absence Long-term absence 
			 April 167 82 7.64 2.34 5.30 
			 May 194 86 7.10 1.39 5.71 
			 June 205 83 7.25 1.42 5.83 
			 July 133 88 5.39 1.54 3.85 
			 August 155 90 5.37 1.84 3.53 
			 September 114 92 4.24 0.59 3.65 
		
	
	The number of long-term absence cases has fallen from eight staff members in April to May 2006 to three members of staff at present. All staff have been made aware of the new absence triggers which prompt early consideration/action. These are being closely monitored and issued by the human resources department within the NITB.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: The Security Industry Authority (SIA) is intended to be self-supporting through its fee income. The SIA's budget for 2005-06 was a planned surplus of £2.2 million. In the event there was a deficit of £3.1 million.
	It is expected that SIA will have a deficit in 2006-07. The original budget estimate was for a net deficit of £4.54 million. The latest estimate is a deficit of £3.7 million. A summary of the results are shown in the table.
	
		
			 SIA's financial planning 
			  Budget Actual Variance 
			 2005-06
			 Income 25.6 19.6 -6.0 
			 Expenditure 23.4 22.7 0.7 
			 Surplus/Deficit(-) 2.2 -3.1 -5.3. 
			 2006-07
			 Income 18.6 20.6 2.0 
			 Expenditure 23.1 24.3 -1.2 
			 Surplus/Deficit(-) -4.5 -3.7 0.8